Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for free from Just Reads Tour and Gilead Publishing Company. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3.5/5

Genre: Romance/Mystery

Recommended Age: 16+ (war, explosives, terrorism, romance ((nothing explicit)), and poison. This book also has a focus on the Christian religion, so if you’re not into books from that perspective I don’t think you would like this one.

Pages: 320

Synopsis: Caden Wallis has suffered several devastating blows that have left him reeling. He’s lost friends and now his girlfriend to the ravages of war. He arrives on the Outer Banks for one final mission—to thank the woman who sent him a quilt while he was recuperating from his wounds at Walter Reed Army Hospital.



McKenna Dockery knows all about loss. She lost her mother at a young age, and her father has never been the same since he came home from his own war. She juggles the family business, her ailing father, and an aging grandmother. Much to Caden’s surprise, she is the quilter—not some elderly lady. The quilt was something she’d begun for her future husband but shipped to the military hospital after the tragic death of her fiancé.

When a man is found snared in a net and murdered on McKenna’s property, she and Caden must work together to bring the killer to justice. Each must learn to trust the other, or no one will be safe in the tangled web of conspiracy, greed, and deceit lurking in the tidal marshlands of the Outer Banks. A nor’easter, a sea turtle named Cecil, and a surf-crazy hound named Ginger conspire to bring these two searching hearts together through the vast and gracious tide of God’s love.



I was presented this book as a mystery and while there are mystery components in it I’d say the book is far more romance than mystery. This necessarily isn’t a bad thing and for the most part I enjoyed the novel. I thought the book was well written and it flowed really well. I thought the book did great with plot development and it kept me on my toes. I also have the praise the book on focusing on a character who obviously suffers from some PTSD and is a wounded vet. Not a lot of books have main characters with them in it and his struggle and triumph were very inspirational to me. I can’t speak to how realistic his plight was, but in my opinion it was written very well.

However, I did feel that the book had a bad case of “insta-love” and that the characters weren’t as developed as they could have been in my opinion. I also didn’t like the random jumps in time and I feel that the author didn’t focus on the mystery component as much as she did the romance, which would have worked better had I known more about Caden and McKenna.

Verdict: Overall, it’s a wonderful action-packed romance with a hint of mystery in it. I would recommend if you’re into romances or books that focus on military vets.